NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Friday, Nov. 7, 2025
For more information: Nan Drake: 805-701-9809; nanodrake@aol.com
Local Food Waste Recycling Takes a Giant Step Forward
At ribbon-cutting ceremony Tuesday, officials praise Agromin, E.J. Harrison & Sons for bringing Mountain View facility online
OXNARD, California – Tomorrow is here. With the cutting of a ribbon, Agromin’s Mountain View Organic Waste Processing Facility officially opened this week.
The new facility off Mountain View Avenue in Oxnard greatly expands the booming business of food waste recycling – a move that’s both good for the environment and vital to bring us into compliance with strict state recycling laws.
During the on-site ceremony on Tuesday, Nov. 4, a dual ribbon-cutting was led by the Ventura Chamber of Commerce and the West Ventura County Business Alliance. Ventura Chamber president and CEO Stephanie Caldwell and chamber executive Ashley Pope joined WVCBA president and CEO Andy Conli in officially welcoming the facility and watching as executives of Agromin, E.J. Harrison & Sons and its partner Gold Coast Recycling made the big, symbolic cut.
Also at the event, Conli introduced a long line of city and county officials who presented proclamations to Harrison President Jim Harrison, Harrison’s Nan Drake and Agromin’s Bill Camarillo, recognizing their companies’ work on the project and thanking them for their valuable partnership.
Among those making presentations were Ventura County Board of Supervisors President Janice Parvin and supervisors Vianey Lopez and Kelly Long; Oxnard Mayor Luis A. McArthur and councilmember Bert Perello; Camarillo Mayor Kevin Kildee and Vice Mayor David Tennessen; Fillmore Assistant City Manager Manuel Minjares; and Ventura Deputy Mayor Doug Halter. Many other elected officials and staff members from jurisdictions throughout Ventura County were on hand, as well, along with a number of Harrison and Agromin employees.
About Mountain View
The Mountain View plant dramatically expands area food-waste recycling capabilities, brings much-needed efficiencies to the process and produces an environmentally friendly end-product with multiple uses. It helps ensure local jurisdictions meet the requirements of California Senate Bill 1383, which mandates the recycling of food and other organic waste to reduce climate-harming methane gas emissions from landfills.
The ceremony was the culmination of eight years of dedicated work to a shared vision between Agromin and Harrison.
“We embarked on this journey and found this piece of property in 2017, started the permitting process, and here we are today, many years later,” said Camarillo, the CEO of Oxnard-based Agromin. “We had a pandemic get in the way, supply chain issues, this thing called inflation hit us, but we finished it. And the system works fantastic.”
Camarillo explained the state-of-the-art facility uses a system of machines and processes that can handle 300 tons of food waste a day. The machines clean out any glass, plastic, metal or “anything that ends up in the food waste stream,” and turns the remaining waste into a clean slurry material that can ultimately be used as animal feed, fertilizer or a substance to be used for electricity.
“This system allows Ventura County and all of its 10 cities to be in compliance with SB1383,” Camarillo said. “Why is that important? It reduces greenhouse gas emissions in landfills and, more importantly, it preserves a landfill’s life.”
Congratulations all around
Praise for Harrison and Agromin was strong and decisive at the ribbon-cutting event, from across Ventura County.
“I had the opportunity to meet Jim Harrison – and also to work for him a long time ago,” Oxnard Councilmember Bert Perello told the crowd. “This company does not back away from progress. This company stuck to it. It took a long time to get this up and running, but they didn’t back away.
“It’s a big deal,” Perello said. “No matter what you want to do, you’re going to still generate garbage. It’s got to go somewhere … so this is an issue that has to be addressed.” To Camarillo, Harrison and Drake, he said, “Thank you very much for all you do.”
Among the many other officials echoing that sentiment, Ventura Deputy Mayor Doug Halter said: “I’m so appreciative of what Agromin and Harrison have done for our community and for business and for sustainability. … It gives me a lot of hope – hope that in this great state of California that we have the diversity and the ingenuity and innovation to really solve the problems of the moment.
“That’s exactly what you guys have been doing for many, many years,” Halter said to the Harrison and Agromin officials. “I want to thank you for … leading by being a role model for other counties and other cities.”
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